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Daniels thanks fatal fire heroes

Steven Porter, sporter@jconline.com
7:52 p.m. EDT May 1, 2014

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Mitch Daniels, president of Purdue Univerity, speaks Thursday as he gives a One Brick Higher Award to Gregory Cohen, left, and Kevin Thedans. Cohen, a sophomore, and Thedans, a longtime university employee, were instrumental in alerting Riverbend Apartments residents to the fire that killed one man.
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A student and an employee of Purdue University who rushed into action last week when a fire engulfed multiple units of a West Lafayette apartment complex, ultimately killing 22-year-old Cody Day of Connersville, were honored Thursday by President Mitch Daniels.

Daniels lauded the reflexes, actions and courage of sophomore Gregory Cohen and Kevin Thedans, an Army veteran employed by the university for 28 years.

“Each spontaneously saw trouble, responded to it, put themselves at risk and by all accounts are responsible for the safety of a number of other people,” he said.

Cohen, a mechanical engineering major and ROTC cadet, had risen early April 24 for a physical fitness test but found himself springing into action before ever leaving his apartment complex. Exiting his unit at about 5 a.m., he looked to his right and noticed fire on a neighbor’s balcony. He ran to wake the six people inside, starting with the two men he found asleep on the first floor.

“I woke one of them up. He became alert right away and ran upstairs to wake up the four others up there,” Cohen said. “The other male that was asleep on the main floor was Cody, and it took me a little longer to wake him up.”

Thedans was headed to work shortly thereafter, at his usual time, when he noticed flames.

He stopped to take a picture, then realized no emergency crews were on the scene. He left his car in the middle of the road with its emergency flashers on and ran up to the first set of apartments, where he found Cohen keeping people calm.

Thedans called 911, then instructed those present to make sure everyone in nearby apartments was awake and aware of the fire.

“People just started fanning out from there, knocking on the other doors until somebody would answer,” he said.

The scene was chaotic and confusing with residents screaming, Thedans said. He feels honored to be associated with Cohen, who kept his cool, he said.

Daniels said he didn’t have an honor readily available that fully captures the bravery and selflessness exhibited by Thedans and Cohen.

“It’s an inadequate token,” he said, referring to the One Brick Higher Award he bestowed. “But it was the available token to recognize this extraordinary act and the wonderful consequences that came from it in possibly saving lives, certainly saving (from) serious injury.”

Chase Woodall, 22, who was injured fighting heat and smoke in an attempt to reach Day, remained hospitalized Thursday, according to friends Audrey Myers and Brayton Tressler, Purdue students who attended the presentation.